You may notice that my blog looks a bit spooky. Of course this is for this years October Spookfest. I know I am a day early but I just couldn't help myself! I will be doing some spooky themed posts all throughout October. I will continue to do my usual vintage themed posts as well. I hope everyone is as excited as I am!!

Saturday, September 29, 2012

Here's another one of my favorite October Spookfest posts from 2010. This is one of those weird tales that seems too strange to be true. I want to warn you that this story may be a bit disturbing. Its not a ghost story really, but just a really strange love story that took place in Key West in the early 30s. I use the term 'love' loosely. The more proper term would be 'obsession' or more technically 'necrophilia'. If that doesnt gross you out already than please read more.

Count Carl Von Cosel was a bit of a fraud to begin with. He wasnt a count and his real name was Karl Tanzler. He emigrated from Germany in the 20s and began working at a tuberculosis hospital in Key West. In 1931 a beautiful young woman came to him for treatment. Her name was Elena Hoyos and she was only 22.

Elena Hoyos

Von Cosel fell madly in love with the Cuban beauty, even though she did not return his sentiments. She was dying of TB and Von Cosel was determined to save her. He tried everything but eventually she passed.

In his grief, Von Cosel convinced Elenas family to let him build her a mausoleum. They trusted him and could not afford it otherwise. Though they knew of his fondness for Elena, they were not aware of just how obsessed he really was. They were also unaware that he had preserved Elenas body in formaldehyde and made a special key to her tomb so that he could visit her every night.

Von Cosel

At this point people started to notice that Von Cosel was spending an awful lot of time at Elenas tomb. His visitations became so frequent in fact that he lost his job at the hospital. It was at this point though that he disappeared. Some assumed that he had died, but he had actually moved to another part of town. His neighbors would see him going in and out with large packages, and would also hear him playing his organ and singing late at night. However no one wanted to pry so they just let him be. His strange behaviour did make the rounds though, getting back to Elena's family. It was at this point that they noticed that her body was missing from its tomb.

Elena's sister, having heard about Von Cosel's strange behavior, went to his house and confronted him. Rather than deny it, Von Cosel invited her in and took her upstairs to Elena. What she saw though, was not Elena, but rather a wax dummy that looked just like her. She was lying a bed big enough for two people. Von Cosel stated that Elena was happy and that they were in love and invited the sister to return and visit whenever she liked. Needless to say the sister was horrified and called the police.

The police arrived and took the Elena doll to be examined. What they discovered would shock and horrify people for decades. The 'doll' was actually the decayed body of Elena. Von Cosel had gone to extreme methods to 'preserve' the beauty. He had wired her bones together, inserted fake eyes, and covered her skin in wax and perfume. But that wasn't all...

It gets way worse. Not only had Von Cosel reconstructed the exterior of Elena, but her interior as well. He had attempted to preserve Elena's, ahem, sex organs. He had also inserted a tube that had allowed him to have intercourse with her for 8 years!!!

Grossed out yet?

Von Cosel did go to trial for these attrocities, however the public, especially women, supported him. They saw the whole thing as romantic. Von Cosel simply loved Elena so much that he couldnt let her go even in death. He spent only a short time in prison and it was decided that Elena would be buried in a secret location so as to avoid any further romanticisms. Before they buried her though, they decided to have a public viewing. Because that was the only logical thing to do, of course.

You gotta love all the smiling children!

Apparently the public was not informed of the necrophilia until after Elena was buried. If they had been maybe their sympathies would have gone to Elena and her family instead of the "romantic" Von Cosel. Instead, he was declared sane and sent on his way to live out the rest of his days in Tampa, FL. With a life sized dummy of Elena compete with death mask of course. She was by his side when he died in 1952.

Friday, September 28, 2012

In preparation for this years festivities I am re-posting another installment from my 2010 October Spookfest series. This one was about vampires...sort of...

I'm surprised that this is my first foray into Vampires during October Spookfest. I love Vampires and am slightly obsessed with them! I will gladly admit that I read all of the Twilight series and The Vampire Diaries books (the show is so much better and Ian Somerhalder is HOT!). However, my love of Vampires isnt a new thing. I have loved them since I was a kid. My sisters and I were huge Lost Boys fans, and then there was Anne Rice of course. But more than that is all the Vampire lore that is out there. I find it all extremely fascinating! Which is why today I am posting about Elizabeth Bathory.

Bathory is not a Vampire in the 'I vanna sock your blad' kind of way. She was a real historical figure that often times gets linked to Vampires because of her blood lust. Not because she drank it, mind you. Its because she bathed in it.

In 1560 Elizabeth Bathory was born into a wealthy family in Hungary and married the Slovakian Count Ferenc Nadasdy when she was 15, thus making her a Countess. Together they lived in the Castle Sarvar and had babies, most of which died. The count spent most of his time out fighting battles and Bathory spent most of her times having affairs. That is of course until she found her true passion of killing young girls.

It is said that Bathory was quite beautiful, with black hair and pale skin. But time can be cruel and as she got older it started to show. She was vain, of course, and was jealous of all the young peasent girls in her employ. She began to take out her frustrations on them, punishing them in horrific ways. She would beat them, burn them, and stick pins under their fingernails. Thats not all of course. In the winter she would execute a girl by stripping her naked in the snow, then dousing her with water until she froze to death. The Count also delighted in these tortures, and educated Bathory in a summertime version of this act. Dousing the girl with honey so that she would be bitten by insects.

The Count died in 1604 and Bathory moved back to her families estate. At this point, 40 and widowed, she was desperate to retain her beauty at any cost. Nothing was working, however, and she was becoming more and more angry. It is believed that she struck one her maids across the face one day, causing blood to splatter across her hand. When she wiped the blood away she saw smoother, younger skin. At least in her deranged mind, that is. Excited, she had the maid killed and her blood drained into a bathtub so that she could bathe in it.

For 10 years she did this. She had accomplices of course, who would seek out the girls to 'work' in the castle. Rumours spread about the Countess' cruelty and all the missing girls, but they were peasents and did not matter. The young girls began to run out though, and the Countess needed to come up with a new plan.

Offering classes in etiquette and manners, noble familes willingly sent there daughters to Bathory. She was a Countess afterall, with a long line of royality in her family. These aristocratic young girls were the perfect victims for Bathory. They were of noble blood, afterall, which meant that its effects would be stronger when she bathed in it. The fact that they were noble, however, meant that their disappearances would not go unnoticed.

Bathory and her helpers had become careless. This had been going on for over 10 years, afterall. Instead of buying the bodies of the dead victimes, they began tossing them out the window, hoping the wolves would take care of them. Reports were coming out that the daughters of noble familes were disappearing after attending classes at Bathory's castle, and eventually men were sent to investigate. What did they find? Dozens of dead and dying young women littered around the castle. It was evident that these women had been torured in extremely gruesome manners.

So now that she was caught its safe to assume that she was executed, right? Wrong! Bathory was a countess and could not go to trial. All of her cohorts could, though, and they were executted in ways befitting the crimes. In an attempt to make Bathory pay for the evils she had committed, she was sealed into a small room in her castle, her only human contact the guards that passed her food through a slot in the door. She was entombed there for 4 years before she was found dead. She murdered over 600 women during her bloody reign of terror.

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

I really hate the new blogger interface! It so utterly uninspires me that I dont even want to log on to blogger anymore. I find it really hard to navigate and it just looks so sucky. I will do my best to get over it though, I guess.

Beyond the boring new Blogger I have been busy with work and home and have not found the time to blog properly. I have thought about it repeatedly, I swear. But coming home after a long day at work sitting at a computer, the last thing I wanted to do was get online. I usually want to eat and veg out in front of the TV. I hadn't even set my hair for at least 3 weeks!! I am consciously trying to be less lazy though and get my creative juices flowing again. I even did my hair :-)

I don't have anything really inspiring to share with you guys right now. I just figured I would share a few "recent" purchases. They aren't that recent, some of them, but they are recent to you! The cool thing is that they all go together. It was entirely unplanned too, which is even better.

First, I got this super cute abstract fish skirt:

Isn't the little net fish pocket so adorable?! Its vintage, of course, and I got it for $15 off Ebay.

I bought this next item to put in my Etsy shop. Then I realized that it is the perfect match for my new fish skirt so now I have to keep it:

60s raffia hand bag. I think it was $1. I have a black one and a pink one too.

Monday, September 10, 2012

For a while now I have been using a lady head vase to hold my makeup brushes. This has worked fine, except for the fact that she does not hold all my brushes.

I hadn't thought much about it, other than a vague idea that I needed something bigger.

On sunday Fernando were out shopping for a couch (no luck, just getting ideas) and we went to an antique mall. I stumbled upon these two planters in a dollar bin and thought they were cute. Fernando was the one that recommended I use them for brushes. He's so smart!

They're really unique and the large one fits all my brushes with room to spare. Both of them are chipped, but luckily only on the back. I want to get some sand filler so that the brushes will stand up and stay organized. Also, I now am obsessed with finding a table cloth that will match them!!

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Long time readers of my blog will remember my October Spookfest series from 2 years ago. I meant to revive it last year, but life got in the way. However this year it is back! All throughout October I will be sharing posts about all things spooky and Halloween related. There will be ghosts, weird crimes, pet costumes, haunted houses, and, well, just about anything that is weird and interesting in a twisted sort of way. If you love the macabre like I do, then you will love October Spookfest! And even if you don't, please stay tuned as I will continue my regular vintage posts as well.To prepare you guys for next months events I will be re-posting some of my most popular and favorite Spookfest posts. I feel it is only appropriate to start with my all time most popular post. Ever. This post gets the most views out of any post I have ever done. Which I find funny, because it just proves how twisted people are! Lol!Enjoy...

~October Spookfest-Memorial Photography~If you've ever seen the movie The Others you will know about Memorial, or Post Mortem, Photography. It is a portrait taken after death. During Victorian times photography was very costly and required the person to sit motionless for long periods of time. Since a dead person has a tendency to not move (hopefully at least)they make good, albeit creepy, subjects. Most efforts were made to make the dead look alive; that is why some of their eyes are open and they are propped up by living members of their family. Also, most of these are children, probably due to the high mortality rate for children during the Victorian age. If they creep you out I am sorry. Just remember that back then this would have been the only photo ever taken of this person, so to family members it was a way to honor them.

About Holly

I'm a vintage obsessed Rockabilly girl and proud of it!! I'm also a fully modern gal not interested in living in the past. I just prefer to incorporate the past into my present. I love makeup and anything girly. I dance lindy, jive and collegiate shag and listen to a wide variety of music. This is just a little glimpse into my life. http://www.facebook.com/temperamentalbroad